The Russian defense ministry has never commented and is not interested in commenting various guesses published on the net, Russian agency TASS reports citing the ministry’s authority. However, due to many inquiries, the ministry opted to make a statement.

“Bellingcat’s so-called journalist investigation distorts the objective facts. The presented information is of deliberately anti-Russian aiming and is based on false data. Moreover, it uses unproved calculations, aimed at exclusively informative impact on the public,” the statement says.

MH17 – Potential Suspects and Witnesses from the 53 rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, Bellingcat’s recent report published in late February, conducted a deeper investigation into the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, its organizational structure and placement in the Russian army, and the military vehicles involved in the June and July 2014 Buk convoys. A number of soldiers of the Brigade’s 2nd division posted photos which, according to Bellingcat’s investigation team, proved their being at the Russian-Ukrainian border in June and July 2014.

Bellingcat knows several dozen Russian servicemen names who might have been accessory to the MH17 crash, but stresses that it is Russian presidentVladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu who, among others, are responsible for the deaths of the MH17 passengers.